


Strangers Staring

by egocentrifuge



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Bottom!Rhett, First Time Bottoming, Gender Dysphoria, Homophobia, M/M, and it's brilliant, mostly implied but it's a big ol! trans link fic! and that's a big part, trans!Link
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-27 03:30:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18189209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/egocentrifuge/pseuds/egocentrifuge
Summary: “How’re you feeling?” Rhett asks, because it’s better than the defensivewhat?that he wants to come out with. Link takes a few steps forward, closer to Rhett, before he stops and crosses his arms.“That’s all you’ve got?” he demands.“What do you want me to say?”“I don’t know, man.You’re overreacting? We can’t do this?”Link’s cheeks are splotchy under his red-rimmed eyes and Rhett realizes he musta been crying. “The truth.”





	Strangers Staring

**Author's Note:**

> a continuation of sorts from [this drabble](http://egocentrifuge.tumblr.com/post/183181606589/i-know-its-late-to-ask-for-a-ficlet-but-if-you). you absolutely don't need to read that to get this, though you might enjoy it if you enjoy this. 
> 
> this fic has been percolating about as long as i've been contemplating my own gender identity, and as turns out, i'm trans! we did it, everyone. 
> 
> title from the utterly devastating [song](https://youtu.be/OKwe1qXJrCU) by skylar kergil.

Rhett had gone with Link to pick out his dick because, well, it seemed like it was important for him to be there. It was, as Link was solemnly calling it, a coming of age. He already had, y'know, his clit, which was growing at such a phenomenal rate that Link had put up a chart next to the top bunk and had taken to sleeping with a ruler. While Rhett insisted this was due only to Link tugging on it so much, there’s no denying that Link's… changing. Wider shoulders are only the tip of the iceberg. Link’s goozle had developed almost overnight, and Rhett’s still sore over how quick Link’s facial hair overtook his own.

Point is, when they walk into the rundown little building wittily proclaiming  _Condom Nation_  in blinking neon over the door, they look like exactly what they are. Two guys, looking for a dildo.

“Hey, look,” Link calls. Rhett mean mugs at the only employee in the store - a middle-aged white guy who’s been staring him down since they walked in - for a moment longer before looking over at Link. He’s waving around what could easily be mistaken for a mannequin arm: as thick around as a bologna log, the waxy pink of “universal” skin tone, and glans so big you could use them as a shovel.

“No,” Rhett tells Link, who laughs.

“What,” he teases, too loud, “you afraid of me being bigger'n you, brother?”

Rhett snatches the toy out of Link’s hands and drops it back on the shelf from whence it came. Good riddance. He has to stop himself from looking over at the gargoyle of a man behind the counter as he leans past Link to pick up a random box purely to get close enough to hiss in Link’s ear.

“Keep it down or we’re gonna be kicked out, or worse.”

It was useless trying to be subtle, because as Rhett studiously reads the side of a package promoting  _flared base for safety,_  Link’s head whips around to take in their watcher.

For what feels like minutes Rhett focuses on the dildo’s selling points as sweat drips down his neck.

 _For the love of god, Link,_  he thinks at his friend, as loud as he can without looking up.  _Don’t start a freaking fight in a freaking sex shop._

“Gimme that,” Link says at last. Rhett lets out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding as Link snatches the box from him. It’s risky, to sneak a peek over at the register, but when Rhett does the owner is flipping through a dirty mag and forcibly paying them no mind.

Rhett’s torn out of worrying what the hell Link did when Link jostles him with one broader than ever shoulder as he shrugs.

“This’ll work,” he says. “C'mon, brother, gotta pick out the hardware.”

Miracle of miracles, Link settles on the first harness he picks up, and they’re at the counter before Rhett’s really prepared. Link, however, tosses their selection by the register without any apparent discomfort, even goes so far as to reach past the cashier to snag a porno from the shelves. When Rhett tries frantically to read the title he’s confronted with a massive pair of titties and some of the tension eases from his spine.

“You know Pi Kappa Alpha?” Link chats as they’re rung up, hands in his pockets, so disgustingly at ease in the lie. “Keep your eye out, man, we’re hitting up the statues, it’s gonna be dope.”

It’s so convincing that Rhett has to keep from grimacing just by association with the person Link’s pretending to be. It gets them out of the store without incident, though, and by the time Link’s paid and they’re bursting out into the parking lot, Rhett’s ready to whoop with relief.

“That was amazing, man, you freaking  _had him,“_ he praises. Link doesn’t look up until Rhett shoves him, exhilarated. Rhett stops short.

Link’s face is pale, lips a tight line where he’s pressing them together. Rhett spares a glance around them before he hustles Link over to the truck and opens the passenger door to give them some privacy.

“Hey, you alright?”

Now that he’s looking, Rhett can tell Link’s shaking as he drops the bag into the foot well; Rhett flounders as he fights the instinct to wrap Link into his arms. He settles on gripping Link’s biceps, instead, squeezing tight until Link meets his eyes.

“I’m fine, yeah,” Link lies, scrubbing at his face with one hand. “It just - shit, it never stops, does it? I thought it’d change once I passed, but now it’s - ”

Rhett’s heart clenches under his ribs when Link shrugs Rhett’s hands off of him, fishes in his pockets for the keys.

“You good to drive?” Rhett asks, but it’s hollow.

He knows Link ain’t. But Link still nods and rounds the truck without looking at him.

–

When they get back from what was supposed to be a funny, exciting venture, Link locks himself in the en suite and leaves Rhett pacing in their room. He hadn’t been able to think of anything to say on the drive back to diffuse the tension, and he can’t think of anything now. Rhett’s not - he can’t lie about the state of the world, their place in it. That’s not the kind of person he is, even if he knows that’s the kind of reassurance Link needs right now.

In the end, Rhett resorts to actually doing homework to try and get his mind off of things. He’s made his way through a page of trig problems when Link finally emerges freshly buzzed, freshly showered and - completely naked.

Rhett stares because - because he doesn’t remember ever seeing Link like  _this_. Before he started T, Link was hesitant to even take his shirt off, and even after it didn’t seem like something he was ready for. Rhett never pushed it, because he couldn’t pretend like he didn’t understand why it was a big deal. They weren’t - like that, even if they’d been fooling around for years. But now Link’s naked in front of him and it's…

Wiry legs from all the running Link’s been doing. Hair, everywhere, but darkest in the thatch of pubes that still doesn’t hide Link’s clit. Broad shoulders making Link’s hips look narrower than they are. A chest fuller than Rhett’s own, but not so big as to seem strange.

It’s hard, to drag his eyes away from Link’s body to check on his expression, but it’s important. When Rhett manages it, Link is frowning at Rhett likes he’s waiting for something. Like this is a challenge.

“How’re you feeling?” Rhett says, because it’s better than the defensive  _what?_  that he wants to ask. Link takes a few steps forward, closer to Rhett, before he stops and crosses his arms.

“That’s all you’ve got?” he demands. Like this, his arms are pressing his chest up, and Rhett gets distracted by the sudden cleavage there before blinking and tearing his eyes away. His neck burns, but he meets Link’s eyes again.

“What do you want me to say?” he asks. It’s not the retort he wants it to be, comes out - serious, instead.

Link scoffs and runs a hand over the stubble on his head - he’s missed a spot - and looks away.

“I don’t know, man.  _You’re overreacting? We can’t do this?”_  Link’s cheeks are splotchy under his red-rimmed eyes and Rhett realizes he musta been crying. “The truth.”

“The truth,” Rhett echoes. He pushes himself out of the desk chair and starts closing the distance between them slowly, as not to spook Link. “Alright, Link, here’s the truth.”

Like this, Rhett can see Link’s entire body stiffen, and his muscles ache in sympathy. He has to clear his throat before he can speak.

“We’d be in the same boat if - if you’d been born with a dick, maybe worse, because we’d never have…” It’s too hard to put a name to, so Rhett gestures between them instead. Link chews his bottom lip, already chapped.

“What if I wouldn’t of - ” Link winces, changes tactics. “If I were a proper girl?”

Rhett thinks back to the time in eighth grade Link’d been made to wear a dress to school picture day, feels sick as he plays back helping him scrub off the make-up in the girl’s bathroom, change into his gym clothes for the rest of the day.

“You’re not,” Rhett says, putting all his conviction behind it. “That’s never been an option.”

“Then what, Rhett? What are we doing?” Link spits the words, but he doesn’t need to for Rhett to know he’s angry when his shoulders are drawn up and hands balled into fists. Not at Rhett, necessarily, though that’s probably a good bit of it; it’s a struggle for Rhett not to react in turn.

“Why don’t you tell me, Link? You’re the one who’s always refused to talk about it, why don’t you share with the class for once?”

“Why the hell do you think that is?” Rhett gets to see that the red in Link’s cheeks goes all the way down his chest as Link uncrosses his arms to shove at Rhett, hard. Rhett stumbles before regaining his footing and shoving back, realizing too late where his hands are set to land and sending Link sprawling in surprise.

Link curls over his chest protectively, arms coming up to block it from sight once more, and Rhett can’t hold his tongue any longer.

“I’m fucking  _okay with it,_  Link, do you get that?” he snaps. “You think that’s the first time I’ve gotten that kinda look? The amount of times my daddy took me aside - ” Rhett takes a shuddering breath, stops himself. “I thought - I hoped - once you were comfortable with your body, we’d - ” That ain’t what he wants to say, either, and Rhett brings up a hand to cover his burning eyes. “Earlier, I didn’t mean to… upset you. But we’ve gotta be careful around strangers around here. That’s all I meant, okay?”

Rhett’s glad he hasn’t eaten much today because his stomach is roiling as he pinches his nose, wills the unshed tears back where they came from.

On the ground, Link is quiet save his harsh breaths. They must look a pair, the two of them, and part of Rhett desperately wants to laugh this conversation away.

Then: “Okay with what?” Link asks, soft. Rhett wipes a hand down his face before making himself meet Link’s eyes.

Screw it. It was happening.

“Being with another guy. Being seen as - ” Rhett sucks in a breath, lets it out slowly. “Gay.”

Link’s mouth opens, shuts.

“Oh,” he finally says, dumbly. His throat bobs wildly as he forms words Rhett never gets to hear. “I didn't…”

All at once it’s too much to watch Link try and formulate a way to break Rhett’s heart and he turns without another word to drown himself in the shower.

–

There wasn’t much hot water left to begin with, so when Rhett finally drags himself out of the bathroom he’s chilled to the bone and can almost pretend he’s numb enough to face the music. He hadn’t been able to quiet the ever-worsening scenarios running one after another in his brain, but his chattering teeth had won out in the end and it was either go back to their room or die of hypothermia in a too-small shower stall in his freshman year of college.

Link’s dressed and sitting cross-legged on Rhett’s bunk; Rhett meets his eyes before he can think better of it.

“How’re you feeling?” Link asks, mouth twisting before he’s finished in a grimace at the line. Rhett barks out a laugh before he can stop himself. It’s easier, after that, to make his legs take him to the clean clothes hamper, drag on a pair of boxers and a shirt he’s sure is his until it doesn’t reach past his belly button.

He sighs and is reaching down to pull it off again until Link’s voice comes, cracking in its urgency, a too-loud: “Don’t, leave it on.”

Rhett lets his hands fall to his sides. Looks over. Finds Link staring at him with his face screwed up nervously.

“Alright,” Rhett says. Suddenly it’s both a response and an answer to Link’s question.

Moving slowly, like it’s his turn to be scared either one of them is going to make a break for it any second, Link extracts himself from Rhett’s bunk and closes the distance between them.

“When we went to that store,” Link asks, hands hovering as if to keep Rhett from getting by, “when I asked you to come with me, did you think - ” He hesitates long enough that Rhett takes pity on him and throws himself onto the pyre.

“I’d hoped you were gonna use whatever you bought on me, yeah.”

Link’s throat clicks as he swallows, and his eyes are wide as he stares at Rhett.

“You mean like - ” He flounders. His voice drops down to a whisper. “You mean  _fuck_  you?”

Rhett wants to laugh at the absurdity of Link’s wince, but then, he knows Link’s momma too well to not know why Link’s so nervous to swear, even now.

“Yeah, Link,” Rhett says, whispering as well, though his is for effect. “I wanted you to fuck me.”

Slowly, oh-so slowly, Link’s shaking hands come down to rest on Rhett’s chest. Hope blooms, warm and terrible, with the touch; Rhett risks bringing up his own chilled palms to keep Link’s where they are.

For a long moment they stand there just like that, Link wrestling with whatever’s going on inside his own head, before Link’s eyes flicker up to Rhett’s and he takes a deep breath.

“I’d like that,” he confesses. “I’d like that a - a lot.”

Rhett bows his head over their intertwined fingers because the alternative is to let Link see his eyes water.

“Alright,” Rhett manages. “Okay.”

It takes Link moving into his space for Rhett to let go, tilt his head at the right angle for Link to kiss him. With how warm even the stuffy dorm air is against his skin it’s not a surprise that Link’s touch almost seems to burn, but it’s still a shock to Rhett’s system. He can feel every place they’re touching with electrifying clarity as Link wraps around him, tugs Rhett back to bed.

With relief, adrenaline, and arousal warring for priority in Rhett’s chest, he doesn’t notice the one glaring inconsistency in Link’s form until Link’s scrambling on top of him on the mattress and his eyes catch on the front of Link’s shorts.

A truly embarrassing flash of  _want_ shoots through Rhett before he manages to get a hold of Link’s waistband and pulls the tented fabric down to reveal -

“What is  _that,”_  he wheezes, eyes slamming shut with the force of his sudden laughter. Link makes an offended noise above him, but he’s laughing, too, and Rhett manages to make himself look again as Link leans back on his heels.

“It’s my dick,” he says, one hand coming down to stroke the offensively bright plastic, already slick with lube, as Rhett giggles. “You picked it out, man, you should know.”

“I did  _not,_ ” Rhett starts, but as he shakes his head he catches sight of the discarded packaging.

“The  _Red Rocket?_ ” he reads, utterly disgusted and still hard despite himself. “I didn’t get past  _flared base,_  man, I was pretending to read.”

“Oh.” Link doesn’t sound much like he cares. “It’s not a bad shape, anyways.”

There’s something in the way that he says it that makes Rhett focus back in on him, and sure enough, Link’s biting his lip in the way that can only mean one thing.

“You freaking - ” Rhett sits up on his elbows. “I was in the shower having a crisis and you were out here - ”

Link silences him with a kiss, which is a pretty solid tactic. Rhett forgets his indignation as soon as Link’s working knuckles brush Rhett’s belly in favor of getting his hand on the toy with Link’s.

In all the worry from earlier Rhett hadn’t gotten to focus on what it would feel like, emotionally, to do this. The shudder starts down at his toe and works its way painfully up until it bursts from Rhett’s chest as a moan.

 _“Fuck,_  Link,” he manages, finally. “Oh my god.”

He gets a bite to his lower lip and mumbled, “Watch your mouth,” in response, but Rhett can feel Link shaking against him. Not for the first time, Rhett puts himself in the position Link’s in - a piece of him missing for so long, finally able to feel -

Link’s other hand lands on Rhett’s cock, and, “Shit, don’t,” Rhett warns, but Link’s already bringing them together. Objectively, it’s not even close to the best handjob they’ve exchanged, but mentally -

“Brother, I’m gonna, you can’t - ” Rhett tries, but Link’s lost in his own world as he stares down at their dicks pressed together, hand gripping too tight around Rhett’s as it works, and Rhett can only lay back and try to keep quiet as Link wrings his orgasm out of him.

“Shoot,” Link whispers, then, “Rhett, look,” and Rhett drags his eyes open to see Link’s cock smeared with come. Rhett’s thighs clench and work and his cock squeezes out another glob in sympathy before Rhett collapses back onto the mattress with a groan.

He gets almost ten full seconds of blissful afterglow before Link’s dragging his boxers the rest of the way off and Rhett’s forced out of his reverie. He knows what’s coming before he looks down and sees Link fumbling with their bottle of lube, before Link looks up at him with his eyes wide and asks, “C-can I?” It still doesn’t prepare Rhett for the gut-punch of arousal, the shock of  _too little/too much_  that has his dick twitching weakly, confused.

Still, Rhett nods, because he’s pretty sure their entire lives have been leading up to this moment.

Link’s been with enough girls not to do a damn fool thing like shove inside, which means Rhet’s subjected to the most torturous thirty seconds of his life as Link traces Rhett’s hole with slick fingers, waits for Rhett to unclench. With his thighs still jumping with the occasional aftershock, it’s hard, and Rhett feels fifteen again, lost and trying to get Link off for the first time.

He’s drawing a breath to whisper that it’s not working when Link leans down, eyelashes fluttering, and presses a kiss to Rhett’s thigh.

“I’ve wanted to do this forever, you know.”

Rhett freezes up, air whooshing out of him in surprise, but Link’s not done.

“I had dreams, when I was little. Not about this - about us, though, being husband and wife.” He’s not looking at Rhett, but Rhett can still see Link grin. “You were the wife, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Rhett echoes. Slowly, Link’s finger slips inside. Where Rhett was expecting pain there’s - almost nothing, at first, save the barest hint of friction as Link works his finger in and out shallowly a few times. When he finally presses in to the knuckle Rhett feels the faintest bit of stretch, but he’s too transfixed on Link’s words to tense up again.

“It got worse when we hit puberty. I was first, you know, but you were already huge.” Rhett breathes out what he distantly recognizes as a whine as Link slowly works a second finger into him.

“I was so worried I was wrong, that I was a girl after all, because brother - ” Link shakes his head, glances up at Rhett’s face. He’s already speaking quietly, but his next words are a whisper. “I wanted to fuck you so bad.”

“Link,” Rhett breathes; Link shuts him up with a twitch of his fingers, an experimental thrust up into the same spot they’re trained to go after in girls. Rhett’s vision briefly goes dark; it takes him longer than he cares to admit to realize it’s because he’s slammed his eyes shut.

“It only got worse, once we got together, like - we were doing the thing, why wouldn’t that feeling go away?”

Rhett can’t tell what Link’s doing anymore; he’s working that spot almost harder than Rhett can stand and there must be another finger inside him now based on the stretch. All Rhett can do is watch Link’s face and try and keep it together.

“Didn’t realize what I was feeling ‘til you asked me if I thought I could get my clit in someone now. You fucking me’s fine, brother, but it ain’t what I’d been dreaming about.”

Too fast, Link pulls his fingers out; Rhett curses louder than he means to and gets another kiss to his knee in apology. It doesn’t matter, anyways, because the next moment Rhett feels hard plastic catch at his rim and it’s all he can do not to babble for Link to do it.

“Can I fuck you, Rhett?” Link asks. His voice isn’t shaking on the profanity anymore, which is more than Rhett can say for hearing it.

Rhett wraps his hand around the base of his cock where it’s hard again. Manages to say, after a few attempts, “Come on.”

Link breaks eye contact to watch himself press into Rhett, and Rhett doesn’t blame him. Just by watching Link’s expression alone - whatever Rhett’s feeling, Link’s feeling a lot more. Rhett’s braced for Link to snap his hips to be fully seated, but it’s just one slow continuous slide until Link’s pubes are tickling Rhett’s thighs.

“Holy shit,” Link whispers. Rhett drags his hand up his cock as he watches Link shudder, pull out slowly.

The stretch is good. The friction is good. But it’s nothing compared to Link’s tortured face as he starts to find a rhythm and motion that feels natural. Rhett knows the struggle Link’s facing as his arms start to tremble and he loses momentum and he doesn’t give a damn that it means Link’s stopping and starting sporadically, because Link’s shaking like he might actually come from this and it’s the hottest thing Rhett’s ever seen.

“Fuck, Rhett,” Link’s saying like a mantra, in between little noises that Rhett’s going to remember forever. “Rhett - I gotta,  _fuck - ”_

Link reaches down to shove his shorts the rest of the way off and Rhett realizes that the harness is open in the crotch when Link gets a hand around his clit. His thumb is towards his body so his fingers can wrap all the way around it, get a firm grip; Rhett mirrors Link’s frantic strokes as both of their chests heave in time.

“Shit, Rhett, I’m - ”

“Yeah,” Rhett groans, unthinkingly, “inside me, come on.”

He bites his tongue a moment too late but it works just as well to stifle his shout when Link’s hips slam forward a few times, urgent, and Link bends over Rhett’s stomach as he shudders.

Rhett can feel Link’s harsh breaths across his cock and does his best to shield him as Rhett comes for the second time that hour. The feeling of clenching around something is new and - addictive, probably, and Rhett finds himself savoring it as he comes down

Above him, Link teeters dangerously before shoving himself up with a hand on Rhett’s chest just long enough to get his shirt off, then collapses onto the mess between them. The toy changes angle inside Rhett and he whimpers with what little breath he has left.

“Can you,” he chokes out. “Link, your dick.”

Link makes a noise that sounds suspiciously like  _ugh_ before Rhett feels a tugging and the toy is unceremoniously removed and tossed aside.

“I outta slap you for that,” Rhett hisses, once he has enough air in his lungs. “That freaking  _hurt_ , man. That’s not how you do it, have I ever done that shit to you?”

Link shakes with laughter where he’s sprawled across Rhett’s chest, and the anger fades as abruptly as it’d come when Link rolls his head up to look at Rhett. He’s beaming.

“Sorry, man,” he manages, still giggling. “Just a cool feature I’ve got that you don’t.”

“What, being a jerk?” Rhett grouses, but something like joy is starting to bleed into his limbs, and sore as he is, it’s impossible not to bring his arms up to wrap around Link.

“No,” Link whispers. “Detachable penis.”

Objectively, things are terrible; Rhett’s in love with an idiot and there’s no hot water left for them to shower with.

But all things considered, Rhett’s never been better.


End file.
